View Full Version : David thinks he saw a ghost!
karen0540
07-03-2005, 13:48
My son (SoBo started June 12) called the other day to check in, and told me this story...I think he was in 100 mile wilderness...sat down on a rock to rest and remove boots. Heard a rustling in woods behind him. Turned around and saw a person in a gray jacket quickly move to hide behind a tree, like he/she did not want to be seen....David watched for awhile and never saw "person" move from behind tree...like they just disappeared into thin air. David said he was scared out of his mind and took out his knife and hightailed it out of there. Thought for hours about being followed/attacked, etc. Finally concluded he had seen a ghost. Anyone else have similar experiences? Does one start to hallucinate after awhile out there? Or maybe dehydrated? Wondering...:eek:
Bolivershagnasty
07-03-2005, 17:17
No he probly just saw someone who did not want to be seen again or his girl friend with him. they dropped off the ridgeline behind them. He's not seeing ghost I don't think. He's over re-acting and not used to being alone probly. Being out there by yourself for a week or so screws with your mind, a month from now he'll welcome ghost for company.
Maybe it was the ghost of Henry David Thoreau? I contacted a guy who was collecting AT ghost stories a couple months back , I have his email address if you want it.
bearbait2k4
07-03-2005, 21:01
Your mind can play tricks on you at any given moment, and it's usually a stronger possibility when you are under extreme or out-of-the ordinary circumstances. If you are out in the woods alone, and are not used to it, then certainly you can "see" things that may not be there. In addition to that, noises are amplified, and what sounds like a large animal or person rustling around in the background can simply just be a squirrel.
If he's not used to being alone, the wilderness, and had any anticipations about either before he left, it's quite possible that he didn't actually see anything....he just thought that he did.
karen0540
07-03-2005, 23:45
It could have been any of a number of things, right?...David just seemed pretty freaked out by it, and made a point of telling me about "this really weird thing that happened to me". He also said his hiking companion, who was behind him by a mile or 2, had a similar experience...heard splashing in lake and thought it was David swimming...then a big black dog jumped out and ran by and also seemed to "disappear into thin air". Just kinda weird they both had an eerie experience on same day...but also were probably in a pretty strange and foreign state of mind from being in the 100 mile...:dance
Blue Jay
07-04-2005, 08:13
According to modern physics, particularly string theory, there are many dimensions. Time itself may be an illusion. When thruhiking your narrow minded ways of seeing the world sometimes break down. I have seen many unusual things while hiking through the various Civil War sections of the trail. When I got back my sight, hearing and lung capacity were tested for a job at the same place and by the same person as a previous test. They all improved significantly. This may be what happened to your friend.
TakeABreak
07-04-2005, 11:49
Whether or not he saw a ghost or not, one can not really say. I do know as Blue Jay, pointed out a persons sense's heighten after being in the woods for a while. I know my own do. I also tend to notice things that most non-hikers, do not notice in every day life. Whether it is my military training, or haven been a hunter or spending a lot of time in the outdoors, I notice almost everything especially things are out of place.
I will say this, I have have thoughts of things come into my head of both good things and bad things that were going to happen and they did, some I knew to be warning's which I abided by and kept from being in an auto collision or similar. Other's of someone I knew was about to die, and within a couple of weeks they did.
A couple I did not listen to, like something told me to slow down and I was only driving 5 mph over the limited in 55 mph zone and 4 miles up the road I was involved in a near a collion, a miss collision at that, it was so close that it would not have happened, had I listened to the little voice in my head, that I call angel talking to me.
Something also told me to call in sick one evening while working afternoon's as a security guard 22 years ago, I didn't stay home because I wouldn't of gotten paid had I not went into work, when I came home at midnight my house had been broken into, had I been there they would have seen the lights on and not broken in.
I have spent a lot of time in the woods hiking, hunting and in the military, about 13 years ago I was backpacking in the Porcupine Mountains of North Western upper Peninsula of Michigan, A buddy and I were standing in a clearing admiring the stars when behind us about 50 feet away on a trail, we heard the gate of a man runnig up the hill, we both turned as fast as one can, turned on our flashlights and there was nothing there, and I being a farely decent tracker, looked for tracks for about 15 minutes and never saw not one besides ours.
Now we both know what we heard, and I know it was the gate of a man, a stocky man running up that hill, no one has ever been able to give me a rational explanation as to where that person went along with their tracks or what it could have been if not a man, oh and we did not hearing anyone breathing besides the banging of our own hearts, yeah I was a little scared who wouldn't be, in that situation.
jackiebolen
07-04-2005, 12:59
Is it possible that sometimes we see what we want to see, whether consciously or sub-consciously? I think most thru-hikers have trail magic hallucinations, that is they think they see a cooler on the trail up ahead. I think most thru's also have "I want to be at the shelter syndrome" where they know they only have a mile or two left in their day and keep seeing phantom shelters.
Just a thought.
Has David been picking mushrooms along the trail? ;)
This is why every American should own and keep a loaded gun, it is the ultimate equalizer. ;)
This is why every American who fears ghosts should own a loaded ecto-plasma transducer, it is the ultimate equalizer.
gsingjane
07-05-2005, 07:29
I haven't been hiking the 100-mile wilderness, but it is certainly true that your eyes can play tricks on you in the woods. I was on the AT in CT a couple of days ago (just got back from a 3-day section hike) and I was coming up on a woman standing on the trail with a stroller! And I'm looking at her and thinking, WOW, how did she ever get that baby carriage in here??? That's determination! And then as I got really close, I realized that, of course it was my daughter (who is very definitely NOT in a stroller) standing there with her grey pack at her feet. And she gave ME a funny look!
This isn't to say that David didn't see what he thought he saw, or that there isn't either a natural or a supernatural explanation for it. But just that, as the other posters have noted, sometimes we do see odd things because of the changed environment, or our changed physical and mental condition, or some combination of the above. Whatever, it makes a cool story!
Jane in CT
Although I won't say positively that it wasn't a ghost, there is such a thing as "scenerio fullfillment". The human brain constantly tries to make sense out of abstract shapes ( this is why we say " Ooh, that cloud looks like a....... ) It can really be apparent in the woods, with all it's abstract shapes and shifting shadows. But it still might be Thoreau.
briarpatch
07-05-2005, 13:45
I can't help but wonder if a "person in a grey jacket who ducks behind a tree and disappears" is a squirrel. But when you are all alone on the trail, perception IS reality.
Footslogger
07-05-2005, 15:04
Never had any "sightings" like David. But some sounds sure seem strange and magnified when you're out in the woods ...especially at night.
'Slogger
AT 2003
gr8fulyankee
07-05-2005, 15:11
Yeah it's kind of funny how everything you hear at night sounds like a bear walking around your tent.
But some sounds sure seem strange and magnified when you're out in the woods ...especially at night.
'Slogger
AT 2003
Thank god turkeys aren't active at night. A single turkey walking through the leaves sounds exactly like a human trying to sneak up on you.
cascader
09-18-2005, 12:05
I backpack alone a lot of the time and I definitely get little illusions or hallucinations that just last a few seconds. LIke the shelter illusion someone mentioned above--I think I see the wall or roof of a structure, but it's just some pale colored leaves massed together. More common is hearing things--I think I hear a woman's voice, and it's a stream I'm coming up on, or I think I hear a man talking and I get closer and it's a couple of bees or some big flies buzzing. This might happen on average once or twice per hike, sometimes not at all, sometimes a little more. I think it happens more when I'm tired, when the trail is less blazed or a little disorienting, when I'm starting a hike--each day I'm out, I feel more like I belong in the woods, tune my senses to the backcountry, and get less of those moments of illusion. I totally buy the grey squirrel theory about this ghost--if I saw that guy, and he disappered, I'd be sure it was a squirrel, just like the voices I've heard have turned out to be creaking branches, moving water, or (recently) even the squeaking of my own backpack!
Pacific Tortuga
09-18-2005, 14:53
The jury for me is still out on ghosts but I'd bet Model T would believe and be a whist-lin Dixie for miles.:eek:
y'all have got me so scared now i don't think i will go hiking for a long long time!! :D :D :D
fiddlehead
09-19-2005, 00:17
The important thing in the original post on this thread is that the ghost didn't hurt the guy. Lots of people believe in ghosts. (Asians especially) but i'm often talking about ghosts with my Thai girlfriend (who thinks they are around at night everywhere) that ,hey, ok, there may be ghosts, but are they hurting anyone?
I too have had my guardian angel keeping me safe in some crazy situations. I look at as a good thing for sure!
papa john
09-19-2005, 07:54
I, too, have seen shelters that weren't there, even shelter signs that weren't there. One day I had been hiking in the rain all morning hadn't seen anyone all day and when approaching Cowrock, I though I saw a hiker coming off a side trail heading North. I put some pep in my step to see if I could catch up. I wasn't that far behind. When I got to the point where I had seen the hiker he wasn't there. I could plainly see the trail ahead. Nobody there.
After awhile, I got to where I got used to these "sights" and didn't worry about them (too much). Once day right before Unicoi Gap, a hound dog appeared on the trail behind me. I wasn't sure if he was real until he passed me on the trail.
I remember reading an article about thru-hikers in a magazine a long time ago. I thought it was in the Reader's Digest but have been unable to find the article again. This was back when thru-hiking was just starting to get popular. They talked in there about how people simply disappear on the trail. One account was 2 people hiking together, one about 100 feet behind the lead. The lead hiker went around a corner in the trail never to be seen again! Are there ghosts on the trail? I am sure there are. We have a ghost in our house, I have seen her and we have both elt her presence in the house. The first owners of this house, ca 1910, both died here. She died in the 2nd bedroom and he died out in the back yard.
StarLyte
09-19-2005, 08:21
I agree with Footslogger-sounds are magnified in the woods! Remember, you hear nothing in the woods except bark cracking off the trees, raindrops and wildlife, sometimes scurrying. Your son was probably a little overwhelmed of being alone, and possibly tired. That's all it takes!
2 1/2 years ago in December early AM, I pulled into Neal's Gap and the local Sheriff's department was heading into the woods with a body bag. They said a hunter had come in the day before with human leg and foot bones inside a boot.
Late that afternoon I stopped again and Winton said they found the rest of the body. A few weeks later Winton told me they identified it as a Southbound thruhiker that went missing in January, 2 years prior. He stated that they had found the tent at that time only 2 miles from Neal's Gap, set up with all the gear inside it. The hiker's journal stated that the demons had been chasing him for days and he could not escape and they were becoming unbearable.
The conclusion was he set up camp and went for water, got lost and froze to death....what's your conclusion? :eek: :eek:
StarLyte
09-19-2005, 15:42
GEEZUS Happy - thank you for that story. Now every time I go thru Neels Gap I'm gonna think of that one. I bet you're an Art Bell listener aren't cha.
GEEZUS Happy - thank you for that story. Now every time I go thru Neels Gap I'm gonna think of that one. I bet you're an Art Bell listener aren't cha.
Who is ART BELL...I'm for Real? Just statin the North GA Facts! I don't think he hiked from MA to GA over 5 months to freeze to death a WEEK from the END! He died.. so something happened...just want to know what you think!! :confused: :confused:
StarLyte
09-20-2005, 06:08
Hey Happy-I'm for real too--I wasn't making fun of you-that' not my style. Your story was told with passion, that's why I mentioned Art Bell (google him). Very good story!!!
Things I have *seen* in the woods that turned out to be nothing:
A white trailer - single wide - turned out to be the light of the sky coming through the trees.
Shelters - turned out to be trees in a funny/odd shape.
A brilliant white poodle dodging through the trees - turned out the be a plastic shopping bag caught in the wind (packed it out).
Many snakes - turns out they are odd shaped sticks.
Since coming back to England - my husband has continued hiking the trail - I have seen him numerous times walking towards me on the street....wishful thinking I imagine.
Of course I will see him for real in a weeks time in Maine! YAY!
Hey Happy-I'm for real too--I wasn't making fun of you-that' not my style. Your story was told with passion, that's why I mentioned Art Bell (google him). Very good story!!!
Thanks, I am very sorry...just a little self-centered with my wife's recent breast cancer and other issues...Need to hit the trail for awhile! Go for it Buddie and Thanks for your kind Thread!!! :) :)
lightning
09-21-2005, 19:34
3 of us did about 100-120 miles on and along 4 or 5 rivers&creeks in alaska this summer. this one trip took about 15 days, backpacking and then rafting. the point is that i heard the river a lot.
but in this one spot on the north fork koyukuk, i swear it sounded like natives chanting. and they chanted for quite some time.
after a while i couldnt keep it to myself anymore. fortunately, my brother said he had been hearing it too. but our friend said he just heard water crashing about the rocks. oh well. i have learned to enjoy my brain.
LuTotten
02-08-2006, 22:34
Thank god turkeys aren't active at night. A single turkey walking through the leaves sounds exactly like a human trying to sneak up on you.
Yeah until they make that awful gobble noise for 20 mintutes non stop, after youve finally shivered yourself to sleep in a bag that didn't do as well as its rated to.
Gray Blazer
02-09-2006, 12:44
Gray Jacket?? Maybe a ghost of a confederate soldier? I've had strange dreams on the trail and about the trail. If you look at my photos you'll see one I call the Spirit of Burningtown Gap. Maybe my camera screwed up or is that a real spirit orb in the picture? Strange that it is centered right in the middle of the path as if blocking my way.
Damn. I didn't think he saw me. I've been running around the 100 mile for years pretending to be a ghost.
CaptChaos
02-11-2006, 01:59
Interesting thread.
About 5 or 6 years ago I think I was on my way from the Tremont camp to Spence field. I had come up from a wilderness campsite that connect with Bout mTN Road.
CaptChaos
02-11-2006, 02:26
Interesting thread.
About 5 or 6 years ago I think I was on my way from the Tremont camp to Spence field. I had come up from a wilderness campsite that connect with Bout mTN Road.
Sorry, about that, sent the post before I was done.
On my way up I was getting close to Spence Field and I was dead tired and almost out of water. I stop to rest against a tree and when I look up I see two people, a man and a woman, they are dressed in white shorts, t-shirts, white socks, and white tennis shoes. What is interesting is that they do not have any packs, no day packs, no butt packs, no water bottle nothing and they look as clean as anyone that I had seen. It was a hot day and they should be sweating or something. The couple is somewhere in their 60's and they are in better shape than me.
The man ask me if I am ok. I tell him that yes I am I am just tired and running low on water but I will be ok. The man tells me ok, he is just checking on me and he tells the lady to come on they have to go. She says that she wants to wait for a second to see if I am alright and he tells her that I said that I am ok and that it is ok and they need to leave. As they greet me good day the lady comes up to me and tells me that they were worried about me and just wanted to make sure that I was alright. Then the couple walks away from me and the are over the crest of the trail going down and when I look again they are gone.
Now, how did this woman know that I was in trouble? They come around a turn in the road and stop and talk to me but I have never seen them before???
What was strange is that I felt better when this couple left me, I mean better than I was when they found me. I have always wondered about this. I told this story to our paster and he reminded me that maybe I had seen angels. When I questioned this he told me that angels are "Gods messengers". I have no idea, I realize that this is different than ghost but this did happen to me many years ago. Still, to find a couple around 3 or 4 in the afternoon on the AT in the GSMNP at 5000 feet and they are not sweaty, dirty and look to clean, what do you think?
Chef2000
02-11-2006, 19:17
2 1/2 years ago in December early AM, I pulled into Neal's Gap and the local Sheriff's department was heading into the woods with a body bag. They said a hunter had come in the day before with human leg and foot bones inside a boot.
Late that afternoon I stopped again and Winton said they found the rest of the body. A few weeks later Winton told me they identified it as a Southbound thruhiker that went missing in January, 2 years prior. He stated that they had found the tent at that time only 2 miles from Neal's Gap, set up with all the gear inside it. The hiker's journal stated that the demons had been chasing him for days and he could not escape and they were becoming unbearable.
The conclusion was he set up camp and went for water,
In 2000 I was at neels gap the day the ridge runner brought the tent and pack down from bullgap. Later that night we were all camped in the gap, sitting around the fire the ridge runner told us of the things he read in the journal. It was all very spooky. Then he told me my tent was set up in the same spot and looked like the one he had found, I spent the whole night waiting for this guy to come back.
Afew years later I met the ridgerunner again an he told me of the body discovery, turns out it was about 200 yards from where we camped. You never know whats out there.
karen0540,
You advise, “My son ... Heard a rustling in woods behind him. Turned around and saw a person in a gray jacket quickly move to hide behind a tree ... and never saw 'person' move from behind tree...like they just disappeared into thin air. ... Finally concluded he had seen a ghost.”
You ask, “Does one start to hallucinate after awhile out there?”
IMAGININGS: Your tale reminds me of a story told to me by a long-haul tractor-trailer truck driver. A commercial long-haul truck driver’s first job was crossing the U.S. by the southern route, which included going through a long desert area. He was teamed with an experienced long-haul driver who was driving another truck.
Late one night they were driving through the desert, the rookie driving behind the veteran. Everything went well until the rookie suddenly jerked the wheel, quickly driving his truck off the highway. The veteran stopped and asked him why he swerved. The rookie exclaimed “Didn’t you see the woman pushing the baby carriage across the road?”
The veteran demonstrated there was no woman, no baby carriage, no vehicle, no housing, they were alone, as they had been for some time. The veteran advised such “sightings” were not all that unusual while driving long distances, and suggested the rookie had probably become mesmerized staring at the back of his trailer for hours. The veteran had the rookie pull in front of him for the rest of the drive. He told the rookie, the next time he thought he saw something he should wonder whether what he saw made sense, considering the time and place, blink, look away and back again.
The driver of a flat-bed truck carrying a sailboat, with a full fixed-keel, propped up on the bed, had slept for a few hours along the side of the highway. The desert highway was elevated several feet above the desert floor. To return to the roadway without tipping too much to either side, he drove slightly to his right then swung sharply left to raise the entire front of the bed up and onto the road. The truck completely crossed the road to get the rear tires of the trailer onto the asphalt, intending to then turn right to get his truck on the highway.
The rookie couldn’t bring himself to believe a sailboat was crossing the desert and drove his truck full speed into the side of the flat-bed trailer.
I have “seen” things I came to realize were mere imaginings. These mirages seem to occur when I’m very tired and perhaps a bit anxious, as when you wonder WHEN will I ever get there?
GHOST STORIES: Two women, who seem perfectly sane, have told me of ghosts they firmly believe they’ve seen. As someone pointed out, no harm was ever threatened or done.
GHOST STORY #1: One viewer, the next door neighbor of a friend of mine in Kansas, and her husband owned and lived in their house for years. Her husband died. A ghost appeared, quite some time after her husband’s death. She did not know the ghost’s identity at the time of her first sighting but discovered, by asking neighbors and what turned out to be, mutual friends. They provided her with photographs of the individual who was a former owner of the house.
She and the ghost began talking with one-another and, over time, developed a romantic relationship. The ghost returned several times, sometimes nightly, over the course of many months, but then no more. She would like the ghost to return.
I didn’t ask whether she would prefer the ghost or her husband.
GHOST STORY #2: The viewer of the other ghost, a secretary in West Virginia, lived in a very old house. She had a bedroom you could enter from her mother’s bedroom and also from the kitchen.
One morning she awakened and sat up in bed, seeing a ghost. The ghost was an elderly woman who was wearing a house dress and crying as if grief-stricken. The viewer saw the ghost enter from her mother’s bedroom, walk through her room, and exit into the kitchen. The ghost completely ignored her.
She was sitting up in bed, frozen by confusion, when her mother opened the door from her bedroom and asked if she had seen something. She said, “Yes.” Her mother asked, “Was it an elderly woman crying?” The viewer said yes and asked her mother if she had just seen it. Her mother said she watched the ghost walk through her bedroom and into her daughter's bedroom. She also advised she had been seeing this same ghost, with the same clothing and demeanor, for years in that house. The viewer asked her mother why she hadn’t told her about the ghost before. Her mother said, if she had told her about a ghost, her daughter would have thought she was crazy.
DEER: During some seasons, deer have grey hair. I have heard a deer sound as a sloppy drunk stumbling through some junk yard, and I have seen many deer seemingly float silently over some very uneven rocky and branch-strewn terrain.
BEAR: I have seen quite a few bear, all but one of which were definitely BLACK, the one exception had a greyish appearance.
One bear actively concealed itself behind a tree to hide from me.
I just knew a bear was hidden within some very dense mountain laurel. All I could detect was its heavy breathing; probably asleep.
I walked by a large boulder on the AT which had a large mountain laurel growing against the other side. I stopped not long past to rest and have a drink of water. I observed a bear, awake, concealed within the laurel. I watched as hiker after hiker walked by, in both directions, without noticing the bear. It was close enough that had any of them stumbled in the right direction, and reached out to stop their fall, they could have touched the bear.
Bear which are not startled usually move very quietly. Sometimes you can hear the leaves of saplings brush against one another as the bear pushes them aside. Most of the time bear just silently "disappear." Startled bear will slide down trees in sections, as would a telephone lineman, scraping off bark as they “fall” and then run over shrubbery and “through” saplings as they get away.
Your son could have seen, or had his imagination stimulated by, all sorts of things which might be unexpected.
P.S. Thank your son for NOT carrying a firearm. I have no desire to be confronted by a gun-wielding hiker scared half out of his wits into a mild paranoid state by my discreet bathroom activities.
karen0540,
You advise, “My son ... Heard a rustling in woods behind him. Turned around and saw a person in a gray jacket quickly move to hide behind a tree ... and never saw 'person' move from behind tree...like they just disappeared into thin air. ... Finally concluded he had seen a ghost.”
You ask, “Does one start to hallucinate after awhile out there?”
IMAGININGS: Your tale reminds me of a story told to me by a long-haul tractor-trailer truck driver. A commercial long-haul truck driver’s first job was crossing the U.S. by the southern route, which included going through a long desert area. He was teamed with an experienced long-haul driver who was driving another truck.
Late one night they were driving through the desert, the rookie driving behind the veteran. Everything went well until the rookie suddenly jerked the wheel, quickly driving his truck off the highway. The veteran stopped and asked him why he swerved. The rookie exclaimed “Didn’t you see the woman pushing the baby carriage across the road?”
The veteran demonstrated there was no woman, no baby carriage, no vehicle, no houses, they were alone, as they had been for some time. The veteran advised such “sightings” were not all that unusual while driving long distances, and suggested the rookie had probably become mesmerized staring at the back of his trailer for hours. The veteran had the rookie pull in front of him for the rest of the drive. He told the rookie, the next time he thought he saw something he should wonder whether what he saw made sense, considering the time and place, blink, look away and back again.
The driver of a flat-bed truck carrying a sailboat, with a full fixed-keel, propped up on the bed, had slept for a few hours along the side of the highway. The desert highway was elevated several feet above the desert floor. To return to the roadway without tipping too much to either side, he drove slightly to his right then swung sharply left to raise the entire front of the bed up and onto the road. The truck completely crossed the road to get the rear tires of the trailer onto the asphalt, intending to then turn right to get his truck on the highway.
The rookie couldn’t bring himself to believe a sailboat was crossing the desert and drove his truck full speed into the side of the flat-bed trailer.
I have “seen” things I came to realize were mere imaginings. These mirages seem to occur when I’m very tired and perhaps a bit anxious, as when you wonder WHEN will I ever get there?
GHOST STORIES: Two women, who seem perfectly sane, have told me of ghosts they firmly believe they’ve seen. As someone pointed out, no harm was ever threatened or done.
GHOST STORY #1: One viewer, the next door neighbor of a friend of mine in Kansas, and her husband owned and lived in their house for years. Her husband died. A ghost appeared, quite some time after her husband’s death. She did not know the ghost’s identity at the time of her first sighting but discovered, by asking neighbors and what turned out to be, mutual friends. They provided her with photographs of the individual who was a former owner of the house.
She and the ghost began talking with one-another and, over time, developed a romantic relationship. The ghost returned several times, sometimes nightly, over the course of many months, but then no more. She would like the ghost to return.
I didn’t ask whether she would prefer the ghost or her husband.
GHOST STORY #2: The viewer of the other ghost, a secretary in West Virginia, lived in a very old house. She had a bedroom you could enter from her mother’s bedroom and also from the kitchen.
One morning she awakened and sat up in bed, seeing a ghost. The ghost was an elderly woman who was wearing a house dress and crying as if grief-stricken. The viewer saw the ghost enter from her mother’s bedroom, walk through her room, and exit into the kitchen. The ghost completely ignored her.
She was sitting up in bed, frozen by confusion, when her mother opened the door from her bedroom and asked if she had seen something. She said, “Yes.” Her mother asked, “Was it an elderly woman crying?” The viewer said yes and asked her mother if she had just seen it. Her mother said she watched the ghost walk through her bedroom and into her daughter's bedroom. She also advised she had been seeing this same ghost, with the same clothing and demeanor, for years in that house. The viewer asked her mother why she hadn’t told her about the ghost before. Her mother said, if she had told her about a ghost, her daughter would have thought she was crazy.
DEER: During some seasons, deer have grey hair. I have heard a deer sound as a sloppy drunk stumbling through some junk yard, and I have seen many deer seemingly float silently over some very uneven rocky and branch-strewn terrain.
BEAR: I have seen quite a few bear, all but one of which were definitely BLACK, the one exception had a greyish appearance.
One bear actively concealed itself behind a tree to hide from me.
I just knew a bear was hidden within some very dense mountain laurel. All I could detect was its heavy breathing; probably asleep.
I walked by a large boulder on the AT which had a large mountain laurel growing against the other side. I stopped not long past to rest and have a drink of water. I observed a bear, awake, concealed within the laurel. I watched as hiker after hiker walked by, in both directions, without noticing the bear. It was close enough that had any of them stumbled in the right direction, and reached out to stop their fall, they could have touched the bear.
Bear which are not startled usually move very quietly. Sometimes you can hear the leaves of saplings brush against one another as the bear pushes them aside. Most of the time bear just silently "disappear." Startled bear will slide down trees in sections, as would a telephone lineman, scraping off bark as they “fall” and then run over shrubbery and “through” saplings as they get away.
Your son could have seen, or had his imagination stimulated by, all sorts of things which might be unexpected.
P.S. Thank your son for NOT carrying a firearm. I have no desire to be confronted by a gun-wielding hiker scared half out of his wits into some mildly paranoid state by my discreet bathroom activities.
I wonder how in the wide, wide world of sports two posts, one a rough draft, were posted at the same time?
grrickar
02-13-2006, 02:34
While section hiking last year we came upon a hiker who was telling us about Apple House shelter, and he said it was haunted. We did not think much of it because the guy was smoking a bunch of weed in the shelter - hence we dubbed him 'Smoky'.
Despite the rain we ate quickly and headed out. Later that day we got to Apple House shelter. Just before the shelter there is a stretch of trail near a stream and people have been seriously dumping garbage, it was horrible. Then we came out of the woods to see a late model PU with the rear window busted out driving down the road. Maybe these things got us on edge, but when we got to the shelter most everyone pitched tents outside. I was among the three that slept in the shelter.
The shelter used to be an old shack they stored explosives in for the mines (or so we were told) and someone had taken charcoal and had written all over the red walls of the shelter - things like 'don't talk here' and 'they are listening'. Creepy. After hiking 16 miles I did not much care how creepy it was, i wanted some sleep.
We hung our foodbags in the shelter, and turned in. In the middle of the night, I woke with a start when one of the food bags dropped onto my sleeping bag. A second later the guy next to me lets out a blood-curling scream. I sat up and fumbled for the light because I thought there was a bear or something in there. Turns out he was just freaked. Heck - so was I after he screamed like that. The food bags were swinging, and I can't see how since it was not windy - and a mouse (unless he was a HUGE one) could not have jumped onto the bags and had them swinging like that. I don't know what the heck happened.
The only other time I got freaked was when a mountain lion screamed one night when I was in a shelter. It sounded like a woman's scream. I heard it three times before I recognized what it was.
Nagal Logute Iyapa
02-13-2006, 02:52
Hi Karen,
When we step beyond the boundaries of our normal daily existence, the energy of our physical senses shift. The average person uses so very little of the intellectual capacity that is available. In the wilderness, there is a process of purification that allows one to expand one's sensory abilities. As a point of reference, let us use the yard stick (36") as a metaphor. Humans typically see within the range of 16 to 20 inches on our yardstick. So, let us say that just because we don't normally have access to the other 32 inches of that yardstick, that it simply does not exist. Your son's perception is opening and this is a good thing. The next time you have contact, there is a phrase I would suggest that you give to him as a greeting to use in these unusual circumstances...."Enowah Awaho"....which translates..."All is one, come and go in peace." His journey is a matter of the heart and he has set his feet upon the warrior's path of discovery. You might mention that harmlessness, helpfulness, selflessness, and fearlessness will carry him through the difficult moments. Common courtsey covers a multitude of sins...including ignorance when we are learning of such mysteries. May there be a special blessing for the two of you through his experience. He has chosen the walk of a magical being in the midst of a magical universe. Not to worry...he will be just fine.
Kind regards,
Nagal
Gray Blazer
02-13-2006, 11:20
Grrickar- I passed the Apple House Shelter one time and I did not get a good feeling from it. I can Testify that there are ghosts and spirits and angels all around us all the time. We watch geriatric patients in our home ( for ten years now) and we have had several patients pass away in our home (That's what we do, end of life care, not anything like Terri Schiavo's Husband). The ghosts and spirits do not manifest themselves to me, but they have to several of our patients, friends and family members. When they get good at it, they can do amazing tricks with electric lights and TV's and they sometimes make stuff fly out of cabinets. I think a lot of "ghosts" do not realize they have passed away or they are not ready to move on to the next spiritual plain. We always say a prayer for them and they eventually leave. Believe it or not.
JoeHiker
02-13-2006, 12:01
Maybe he saw the Easter Bunny. Or Santa Claus.
Gray Blazer
02-13-2006, 12:06
I played basketball with Jesus once. (He pronounced it Hey-Zus)
***BANG***
There. I killed this thread.
Please, God. Let it stay dead.
Gray Blazer
02-14-2006, 15:03
***BANG***
There. I killed this thread.
Please, God. Let it stay dead.
You missed me........:jump :jump :jump
SGTdirtman
02-26-2006, 18:34
theres nothing as creepy as a windy night on the trail for me... my mind plays all kids of tricks on me your surrounded by sounds and no sight and I'll start trying to play "identify that sound" like OK thats just some leaves blowing around... thats a tree branch falling.... thats a horrible moutain monster chewing on a hiker...
I think its kinda strange because I'm not so much afraid or freaked out but amazed by the fact I'm fully aware my mind is coming up with this stuff...